The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in its meeting on Wednesday held under the chairmanship of Defence minister Rajnath Singh gave Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for capital acquisitions proposals for modernization and operational needs of the armed forces worth about Rs 13,165 crore.
Of the total approved amount, procurement worth Rs 11,486 crore (87 per cent) would be through the domestic sources, according to a Defence ministry note here.
“The key approvals include helicopters, guided munitions and rocket ammunition. Looking into the need of the Indian Army for an Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Squadron, to improve its integral lift capability ensuring its operational preparedness, the DAC accorded approval of procurement of 25 ALH Mark III helicopters from M/s HAL under Buy Indian-IDDM at an approximate cost of Rs 3,850 cr, in keeping with the continued thrust towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’,” the ministry further noted.
Seeking to give a boost to Indigenous design and development of ammunitions, DAC further accorded approval for procurement of Terminally Guided Munition (TGM) and HEPF/RHE Rocket Ammunition under Buy (Indian-IDDM) category at an approximate cost of Rs 4,962 crore from domestic sources. Other proposals worth Rs 4,353 crore were also accorded AoN.
As a part of business process re-engineering to ensure further ease of doing business for the industry as well as measures to enhance procurement efficiency and reduce timelines, the DAC approved a few amendments to the DAP 2020, according to the ministry.